1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a play list display method which are suitably applied, for example, to a recording reproduction apparatus configured to record or reproduce a television program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up to now, a recording reproduction apparatus such as, for example, a hard disc recorder configured to record a television program broadcast through television broadcasting on a hard disc drive or the like and reproduce the television program in accordance with an operation by a user is being widely used.
In such a recording reproduction apparatus, by analyzing an image signal or an audio signal of the recorded television program (hereinafter, which will be referred to as content) to detect characteristics, and by automatically setting chapters on the basis of the characteristics, commercial films and program main components are sectioned by the chapters.
Also, in the recording reproduction apparatus, while following a play list for a collection of only representative scenes identified on the basis of the characteristic of the content, a digest reproduction of the representative scenes can be carried out.
To be more specific, in the recording reproduction apparatus, for example, when the content is about a soccer match, as shown in FIG. 1A, while following a goal scene play list for a collection of only goal scenes, a digest reproduction of the goal scenes can be carried out.
Also, in the recording reproduction apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1B, it is conceivable that while following a cheering scene play list for a collection of only cheering scenes with loud cheering, a play list reproduction (digest reproduction) of the cheering scenes is carried out.
In this manner, in the recording reproduction apparatus, it is possible to generate plural types of play lists with respect to one content (the goal scene play list and the cheering scene play list) and carry out the play list reproduction (digest reproduction) by selecting the goal scene play list or the cheering scene play list in accordance with a preference of the user.
For the reference's sake, a play list search apparatus configured to extract and present a play list matching with a preference of the user among a plurality of play lists on the basis of story information indicating a transition when regarding a plurality of musical compositions included in the play list, association information on the musical compositions is viewed in the order of reproduction has been proposed (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-287256).
Incidentally, in the recording reproduction apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration, the plural types of the play lists (the goal scene play list and the cheering scene play list) are mutually independently established with respect to the one content, and as shown in FIG. 1C, in a case where both the play lists are combined to be presented, a problem occurs that the play lists are difficult to view and also are not easy for the user to utilize.
In particular, a large number of parts are displayed in a state in which reproduction segments PP1 to PP3 of the goal scene play list and reproduction segments PP11 to PP14 of the cheering scene play list are mutually overlapped in a narrow range on a time axis t (FIG. 1C), and a problem occurs that it is difficult for the user to understand.